The Cornell Lab of Ornithology’s Bioacoustics Research Program, in collaboration with ESS Group, Inc. and Marine Acoustics Inc., was recently granted a research award by the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management, Regulation, and Enforcement to gain greater insight into ocean renewable energy development. ESS has begun conducting habitat assessments at two proposed offshore renewable energy project sites off the coast of Georgia. The project team will assess the impact of offshore alternative energy on the ecology and behavior of the ocean environment. The team will use these findings to comprise a list of recommendations to develop environmental protocols and monitoring that will support ocean renewable energy while preserving and protecting the ecology of the surrounding environment.